Is insurance worth having

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mimismum

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Last year I made the very difficult decision to have my beloved horse PTS. Although at the time our vet had said that he thought there was a chance he may come sound we took the view that it was not in his best interest to prolong his suffering. He had already had two months box rest and had become progressively worse and had required regular sedation. We did not believe that a further 6mths rest would change the situation. We were aware that we may not be covered and took the decision anyway. A post mortem was subsequently performed and I was told that the damage was far worse than had been predicted by the previous MRI scan and we had the right decision as he would never have become sound. Only then did I make my insurance claim. After three months I have just been told that NFU will not pay the claim because the vet’s advice at the time was to try box rest. His subsequent findings have been completely disregarded. I do wonder if we would not all be better paying for 3rd party insurance only and pay our insurance premiums into a savings account
 
Were the insurance company involved all the time ? Only it sounds as though they were involved only at the last minute. I also assume they paid the vet bills, but just didn't want to pay the mortality claim ?

Insurance is a tricky thing. I always said I would not put a horse of mine through a major op, but I do insure them against the possibility. Last year my horse suddenly became ill and NFU paid the big hospital bill and the mortality claim. It happened so suddenly that I had not filled in a single form. I had phoned them and the hospital vets called them prior to pts the horse. At the time I knew it was the right thing, even if they had not paid the mortality claim.
 
tricky really they dont normally pay out if you have a horse put to sleep and the vet as suggested other alternatives
 
Sorry to hear about your horse :(

I've been paying about £75 a month for insurance for my pony and 2 dogs and now have a second horse so it's more like £100 a month from now on. If I put that aside each month I'd have £1200 in the bank.

I've had the dogs for just under 2 years. In the last twelve months, I've claimed something like £2500 for the pony (SDFT injury) and £800 for the dogs. So in my case, it was worth paying the premiums.

If I'd not had any claims since getting the dogs I'd have £1800 in the bank saved up (£75/month over 2 years) plus probably about £480 in premiums (£20 per month) I've paid for my pony before I got the dogs.

It's a gamble is all I'm saying. If all 4 of my animals got ill or injured this year I could easily be looking at £4000 of vets bills.

Also, when my pony trashed his leg, having insurance meant that I didn't have to consider whether I could afford to try the latest treatments (i.e. stem cell therapy) as the insurance covered it so it was a no-brainer.
 
Meant to say - it's worth hassling NFU and pointing out what the postmortem revealed again as you could argue you would have cost them more in things like drugs to manage the pain and other therapies they may cover.
Worth a try.
 
In my view, its definitely worth having. I insured my loan mare with NFU when she came to me in May 2009, and in August 2009 she went hopelessly lame with arthritis. I think NFU paid for about £1000-worth of treatment all told, including prescribed feed supplements, so it was certainly worth it for me. In the end her owner decided to have her PTS when I couldn't even keep her sound as a field ornament, but we never claimed for that.

I would always have insurance. NFU are generally very good, I would go back to them and discuss it again.
 
I am really sorry. I think that is bad of NFU - so many vet's are willing to prolong treatment in insured horses and one must question if this is being done in the name of science and further learning for the vet or really in the best interest of the horse.
Of course no owner wants to lose a horse, but equally how fair is it of a vet to offer hope when the % chance of recovery is so small?
Clearly here you made a right choice absolutely proven by the PM results. It's bad of them to try to wriggle out of paying up now. Would they have preferred for you to claim up to your £5k treatment limit and then have your horse pts and claim lou?
 
That said I have insurance on all of ours bar the 10hh pony. I had a massive claim within 3 months of getting my mare. She lacerated her eye and the bill was £5,800 - she was hospitalised at AHT and operated on twice. I was so grateful to have the insurance. I would hate to be put in a position where I had to act based on cost, hence my cats and dogs are also insured. One cat got kicked by the new horse costing £1,600 in surgery - femur head had to be screwed into place.
I don't think there is money to be made in pet insurance, particularly horses.
 
I stopped when I had a mare worth £5500 and despite being only 8 and perfectly sound, had two legs and her entire wind excluded, despite my never having made a claim (due to very insignificant comments on the vet's report for the vetting she passed comfortably). It would have cost me £550 per year to insure her other two legs, body, neck and head a month and in four further years I owned her, she never once needed the vet. She is still perfectly sound and hunting twice a week with her new owners.

I can't see the point in paying through the nose for insurance when it doesn't give you peace of mind (who knows if they'll pay out anyway?), nor the way some vets react to dealing with an insured animal...

I'd always make sure I was in a position to cover vet's fees up to a similar amount that insurance does anyway.

I think the whole insurance industry should be reviewed and more heavily regulated.
 
Sorry to hear about your loss :(.

Regarding insurance - in my view it depends on your situation and what exclusions (if any) the company puts on your horse.
I have friends who work with horses, who also keep their personal horses as part of the business. As such, they're covered for public liability under the business's insurance policy.
These same friends have an agreement with their vet whereby if anything major is needed (expensive surgery/ treatment etc) they can pay in installments.
So they don't insure and if I was in their shoes, I'd not bother either.

Another friend doesn't insure her horse because the company wanted to exclude a leg, his eyes and various other things. In her place I'd also not insure. Once they start excluding you have to be soooooo very careful. If it's their off-hind leg that's excluded for example then any lameness with any legs, back trouble etc can also be difficult to claim for (despite just the one leg being excluded).

But as a private horse owner who keeps her horse as a livery I insure for vets fees, public liability and death.
My vets don't offer the paying in installments option (hence the vet fees cover), public liability is a must if you don't have it in any other form (as with the above example) and the death cover is mandatory.
I don't bother with loss of use as it's bloody expensive and in my experience they very rarely payout on it.

Edit - Chin up though - it is worth pestering with your claim ;). NFU tend to be good, but no insurance companies ever want to pay and it's amazing what several cross phonecalls and emails can accomplish.
 
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Thank you YasandCrystal, we are singing from the same hymm sheet. The pm revealed the worst ddft injury that Professor ...... had ever seen. I am so frustrated that by sticking to the "rules" my horse would have had to suffer months of pain and confinement only for same conclusion to be reached. I guess I just paid the price of being a caring owner who wasn't afraid to make the hardest decision when it was needed. It is NOT humane to continue treating a horse in pain for a minutest of chances things will improve.
 
Insurance is worth having if you know you couldn't afford to pay a large vets bill, such as a few thousand for colic surgery etc.

I have had too many bad experiences with insurance companies not paying out, so have a separate bank account which I put a little away each month for when vets bills arise.

However, I do have BHS gold membership as think 3rd party insurance is essential.
 
Yes it is worth it, if only for vets fees. I bought a horse in April last year - by June she was ill - several operations and then another totally unrelated operation on the fetlock totalled £9000. If it wasn't for Petplan Equine I would have had to have her PTS. It did leave me with a £1500 shortfall, but that's because the first illness went to £6500. The second fetlock operation has been done, but still requires a further visit for reassessment, so it could be more than that by the time we are finished. It would have bankrupted me to have had to pay the fees - her insurance is around £30 per month - so I have paid £330 in premiums since I bought her, but had somewhere in the region of £7500 paid for in vets fees. Horse is now making a good recovery and start to her work.
On another note, I've been hearing some pretty rough stuff about NFU recently, yet they used to have such a good name.
OP - I would hassle them about not paying out - even if you had done the next six months box rest, the chances are if the DDFT was as badly injured as the Professor said, then your horse would sadly have had to be PTS anyway, in which case they would have paid out because your vet wouldn't have had any option but to suggest it!
Good luck!
 
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